Taking the Leap: Joining a Youtube Network Called ForelaDigital
When my Youtube channel started becoming relatively successful, I started getting approached by recruiters from several networks. The first offer I received, I was about to jump on board. The benefits of joining a network were that supposedly you could make more money, you received customer service (whereas with Youtube, there is only a forum), they could help with promoting your videos, and they could give you access to free domain music. When I went to sign up, though, I read the fine writing. The fine writing said that they would take over my earnings, and they would receive 30%. Suddenly, I wasn't so sure if this was the right move. It wasn't so much that I was suspicious of the network that approached me as that I didn't feel I had enough information to make an educated decision. Their website didn't really tell me very much. The recruiter hadn't given me the feeling that I could write and ask questions. So I chose not to sign up.
I kept getting offers, which I got into the habit of just deleting. Then last month, I received an email from a recruiter from Mackay Media. He gave me a link to a network called ForelaDigital. He invited me to take a look and said I could write him if I had any questions. I appreciated how he had approached me, so I decided to look at the website. It was a very handsome website. It also gave more information than what most networks give you. It seemed they were affiliated with Google, Youtube, Nikelodeon Movies, Blackberry, and Sony. I was able to see other videos of Youtubers who were with them. I was impressed by the videos. It seemed a good place for someone, like myself, who wanted to specialize in educational and "how to" videos.
The problem was, I didn't really understand all of this. I did have some concerns, so I decided to write to the recruiter. One, I was concerned that I would make less money. Two, I was a little concerned about the fact that they might take over my earnings...and what information I would have to provide. Three, I was worried that my audience would have to subscribe to the network and pay a fee to watch my videos.
The recruiter wrote back and answered my questions. This was my understanding of what he said: He wouldn't guarantee I would make more money...but he thought it was very likely. Their ads pay more than Google Adsense, which was what I was with before joining the network. An ad with Google Adsense may pay two cents if someone clicks on it. He claimed that their ads usually at least pay $3.00. They do take over the earnings, and they get 30% of what I make. As for my viewers, nothing should change for them. They don't have to subscribe to the network or pay any fees.
I appreciated that this guy was rather straight-forward and didn't give me the old song-and-dance routine. I really liked this place and had a good feeling about it. Yet, it was still a big decision...a very scary one too.
I googled the company. I didn't really find much information, good or bad. Google said that the company seemed to primarily be based in the U.K. There were a bunch of people on a forum making fun of the name of Mackay Media and claiming they had never heard of them. Generally, I ignore ridicule. I did find one post from someone who had been under-aged and who could barely write. Apparently, you can sign up for a network even if you are underage as long as your parents are involved. This kid apparently signed up without his parents consent, and they were upset with him. There was one video on Youtube that claimed that ForelaDigital had rotten customer service.
I came away with the concept that this company may primarily be based overseas...and it may be small or at least obscure. However, neither means they are a bad company. My good feelings outweighed my doubtful ones. I slept on it. I had one really bad anxiety attack about it. The next morning, I signed up. I read the contract...which did have very small writing. I thought I understood what it was saying. I still worried that maybe I didn't fully understand it, or maybe I blinked and missed the part where I would have to give them my first born child.
Connecting my account was very easy. The recruiter gave good instructions about the process. I went to my Youtube dashboard and clicked the invitation. Wah-lah! I was connected.
I did get traumatized when I went to analytics. I had $35.00 in earnings, and suddenly it said $0.00. I wrote to the recruiter. It took him a little longer to get back with me, but in the contract they had said to give them 48 hours. Most businesses ask that these days. He did get back with me and apologized for the lateness of his reply. He explained that Youtube resets the analytics when I join the network. My prior earnings with Google Adsense will be transferred to my Google Adsense account. That account is no longer connected with my Youtube account, though it hasn't been closed. This will allow me to use it for other things. If I reached my threshold (Google Adsense pays you in increments of $100.00), I'll get paid. If I haven't reached the threshold, then the money will stay in the account until I reach my threshold. At this point, this is between me and Google Adsense. I hadn't reached my threshold, but my account is used with this blog. It may take a while for me to get paid. I need $20.00 to reach my threshold, and the blog makes less than $1.00 each payment period.
The recruiter also asked if I got the email that asks me to establish my payment account. He says sometimes the emails get lost. I hadn't received that email, but I followed the link he gave. Setting this up was also very easy. I didn't have to give any personal information. I just gave the email address that they will use to pay me through Paypal. Paypal does take 2% of the money transferred to the account, but the security I have with getting paid that way make its worth it. Of course, sometimes I wonder if I will make more money if I'm paying the network 30% and Paypal 2%. Yet, all opportunities come with risks. In life, even if we make a bad decision, we come away with more knowledge than we did before. Making mistakes teaches you how to do things right.
Right now, it is too early to see if this is a mistake....Even if it turns out to be a mistake, I don't have to stay with these people.
The recruiter sent me details about the payment system. I was surprised to see that the PDF was from Zoomin.TV, which I think was the original network that approached me. I will get paid every two months, which was my payment schedule with Google Adsense anyway. I already know this from my experience with Adsense, but it takes Youtube a month to transfer the money. Since the network acts as a middleman, they take another month to take their share.
Right now, it is too early to gauge whether this was a good move. However, I think I have noticed some positive things. One, the commercials are more impressive, though some of them I don't know what the heck they are advertising. There was one where this British guy was going through this long thing about being on an elevator but never reaching the right floor, or going for a drive but never reaching a destination. I don't know whether he was advertising a central air unit, printer, coffee maker...I have no idea. Some of the commercials are long, and I am glad that there is an option to skip the ad. Of course, I don't make money when people click on that...but neither do I want to chase viewers away with long commercials they have to watch.
Analytics is always a few days behind. This is true even if you are not with a Youtube network. Once I started seeing my earnings, it does seem I am making more money. My average earnings before joining a network were about $1.00-2.00 per day. After joining the network, I made $12.00 in three days. That seems to indicate I'm making around $4.00 per day. What remains to be seen is how much I make after I have to pay my cut compared to what I would have made before. With Google Adsense, I received all the money. However, the main advantage supposedly with the network is that their ads pay more money, so even if you have to pay them their share, you should (in theory) make more money.
To be fair, I want to give this several months. The problem with Youtube is that how much you earn is seasonal. There are times when people are watching videos, and there are times when they seem to be doing other things. There are times when they are likely to click on ads, and there are times they are likely to ignore them. Before I joined the network, I made around $50.00 a month on average. During the holidays, though, I was making $80.00. During the Super Bowl, I was making very little. Lean earnings may not be due to joining a network. It could be that people just aren't watching or clicking on ads.
I do seem to have more subscribers. The recruiter has always been good about answering my questions, though it may take a few days for him to get back with me. He has always been very friendly and professional. He gave me his Skype address, but at the moment I don't Skype. I guess I should eventually do that. I have to admit, though, I love emailing more.
I did have more annoying comments once I joined up. I had a lot of nitpicky intellectuals and trolling eight year olds. However, this wound up being a learning experience that benefited me. With the nitpicky intellectuals, most of them were complaining that I use U.S. measurements. This makes sense, of course, because I live in the U.S. However, my network primarily caters to other countries. They use metric. I realized the frustration for these people was that I wasn't giving information in measurement units they understood, but they wanted to do the recipe. Converting is annoying. I now plan to give both measurements in upcoming videos, and with my old videos...I plan to do metric versions. I'm still not used to the fact that someone in India or England is watching my videos, even though I talk to people all over the world all the time.
Youtube really teaches you to develop a thick skin and let comments roll off your back. Compliments really make my day, but I've learned not to let the negative ones hurt me. For one thing, often it isn't personal. If they don't like the product you are advertising or showing, they'll dislike the video. I've learned that some comments may sound insulting but are not meant to be taken that way. People from different countries have different ideas about social etiquette.
I usually don't like to discourage comments on my Youtube videos, as I think this chases away viewers. However, when trolling does get bad, I do moderate the videos. Trolls can chase viewers away as well, and I find moderation solves the problem. I find many of my trolls are probably kids or frustrated students. I think some schools are using my videos and refer their students to them. The students are frustrated because they are having a problem. The last problem I had, I decided to keep this in mind. I chose to ignore the offensive comment and answer the person's original question. The person wrote back and told me what they were looking for, and I tried to advise them the best I could. The person seemed grateful.
Trolls, though, are often a sign that you are successful. I didn't know a video of mine had become popular until people started leaving insulting comments on it.
One more traumatizing thing did occur, but I think this might have been a Youtube glitch. However, it happened the same day I made my payment account with Foreladigital. I could no longer watch my videos or anyone else's videos when signed into my Google Chrome account. I could watch them in Internet Explorer, but the problem was that the uploader on Youtube doesn't like Internet Explorer. On the forum, though, there were other people complaining of the same problem. Again, I contacted my recruiter...but the problem wound up resolving itself anyway.
The recruiter did say that Youtube will sometimes lock someone out of their account if there are copyright violations. However, I had deleted any video where there was any question of that. It did resolve, so it seems like it was a glitch.
I'll give an update in the far-off future when I feel I have given this enough time to tell if it was an advantage or not. So far, though, I've not regretted my decision.
I kept getting offers, which I got into the habit of just deleting. Then last month, I received an email from a recruiter from Mackay Media. He gave me a link to a network called ForelaDigital. He invited me to take a look and said I could write him if I had any questions. I appreciated how he had approached me, so I decided to look at the website. It was a very handsome website. It also gave more information than what most networks give you. It seemed they were affiliated with Google, Youtube, Nikelodeon Movies, Blackberry, and Sony. I was able to see other videos of Youtubers who were with them. I was impressed by the videos. It seemed a good place for someone, like myself, who wanted to specialize in educational and "how to" videos.
The problem was, I didn't really understand all of this. I did have some concerns, so I decided to write to the recruiter. One, I was concerned that I would make less money. Two, I was a little concerned about the fact that they might take over my earnings...and what information I would have to provide. Three, I was worried that my audience would have to subscribe to the network and pay a fee to watch my videos.
The recruiter wrote back and answered my questions. This was my understanding of what he said: He wouldn't guarantee I would make more money...but he thought it was very likely. Their ads pay more than Google Adsense, which was what I was with before joining the network. An ad with Google Adsense may pay two cents if someone clicks on it. He claimed that their ads usually at least pay $3.00. They do take over the earnings, and they get 30% of what I make. As for my viewers, nothing should change for them. They don't have to subscribe to the network or pay any fees.
I appreciated that this guy was rather straight-forward and didn't give me the old song-and-dance routine. I really liked this place and had a good feeling about it. Yet, it was still a big decision...a very scary one too.
I googled the company. I didn't really find much information, good or bad. Google said that the company seemed to primarily be based in the U.K. There were a bunch of people on a forum making fun of the name of Mackay Media and claiming they had never heard of them. Generally, I ignore ridicule. I did find one post from someone who had been under-aged and who could barely write. Apparently, you can sign up for a network even if you are underage as long as your parents are involved. This kid apparently signed up without his parents consent, and they were upset with him. There was one video on Youtube that claimed that ForelaDigital had rotten customer service.
I came away with the concept that this company may primarily be based overseas...and it may be small or at least obscure. However, neither means they are a bad company. My good feelings outweighed my doubtful ones. I slept on it. I had one really bad anxiety attack about it. The next morning, I signed up. I read the contract...which did have very small writing. I thought I understood what it was saying. I still worried that maybe I didn't fully understand it, or maybe I blinked and missed the part where I would have to give them my first born child.
Connecting my account was very easy. The recruiter gave good instructions about the process. I went to my Youtube dashboard and clicked the invitation. Wah-lah! I was connected.
I did get traumatized when I went to analytics. I had $35.00 in earnings, and suddenly it said $0.00. I wrote to the recruiter. It took him a little longer to get back with me, but in the contract they had said to give them 48 hours. Most businesses ask that these days. He did get back with me and apologized for the lateness of his reply. He explained that Youtube resets the analytics when I join the network. My prior earnings with Google Adsense will be transferred to my Google Adsense account. That account is no longer connected with my Youtube account, though it hasn't been closed. This will allow me to use it for other things. If I reached my threshold (Google Adsense pays you in increments of $100.00), I'll get paid. If I haven't reached the threshold, then the money will stay in the account until I reach my threshold. At this point, this is between me and Google Adsense. I hadn't reached my threshold, but my account is used with this blog. It may take a while for me to get paid. I need $20.00 to reach my threshold, and the blog makes less than $1.00 each payment period.
The recruiter also asked if I got the email that asks me to establish my payment account. He says sometimes the emails get lost. I hadn't received that email, but I followed the link he gave. Setting this up was also very easy. I didn't have to give any personal information. I just gave the email address that they will use to pay me through Paypal. Paypal does take 2% of the money transferred to the account, but the security I have with getting paid that way make its worth it. Of course, sometimes I wonder if I will make more money if I'm paying the network 30% and Paypal 2%. Yet, all opportunities come with risks. In life, even if we make a bad decision, we come away with more knowledge than we did before. Making mistakes teaches you how to do things right.
Right now, it is too early to see if this is a mistake....Even if it turns out to be a mistake, I don't have to stay with these people.
The recruiter sent me details about the payment system. I was surprised to see that the PDF was from Zoomin.TV, which I think was the original network that approached me. I will get paid every two months, which was my payment schedule with Google Adsense anyway. I already know this from my experience with Adsense, but it takes Youtube a month to transfer the money. Since the network acts as a middleman, they take another month to take their share.
Right now, it is too early to gauge whether this was a good move. However, I think I have noticed some positive things. One, the commercials are more impressive, though some of them I don't know what the heck they are advertising. There was one where this British guy was going through this long thing about being on an elevator but never reaching the right floor, or going for a drive but never reaching a destination. I don't know whether he was advertising a central air unit, printer, coffee maker...I have no idea. Some of the commercials are long, and I am glad that there is an option to skip the ad. Of course, I don't make money when people click on that...but neither do I want to chase viewers away with long commercials they have to watch.
Analytics is always a few days behind. This is true even if you are not with a Youtube network. Once I started seeing my earnings, it does seem I am making more money. My average earnings before joining a network were about $1.00-2.00 per day. After joining the network, I made $12.00 in three days. That seems to indicate I'm making around $4.00 per day. What remains to be seen is how much I make after I have to pay my cut compared to what I would have made before. With Google Adsense, I received all the money. However, the main advantage supposedly with the network is that their ads pay more money, so even if you have to pay them their share, you should (in theory) make more money.
To be fair, I want to give this several months. The problem with Youtube is that how much you earn is seasonal. There are times when people are watching videos, and there are times when they seem to be doing other things. There are times when they are likely to click on ads, and there are times they are likely to ignore them. Before I joined the network, I made around $50.00 a month on average. During the holidays, though, I was making $80.00. During the Super Bowl, I was making very little. Lean earnings may not be due to joining a network. It could be that people just aren't watching or clicking on ads.
I do seem to have more subscribers. The recruiter has always been good about answering my questions, though it may take a few days for him to get back with me. He has always been very friendly and professional. He gave me his Skype address, but at the moment I don't Skype. I guess I should eventually do that. I have to admit, though, I love emailing more.
I did have more annoying comments once I joined up. I had a lot of nitpicky intellectuals and trolling eight year olds. However, this wound up being a learning experience that benefited me. With the nitpicky intellectuals, most of them were complaining that I use U.S. measurements. This makes sense, of course, because I live in the U.S. However, my network primarily caters to other countries. They use metric. I realized the frustration for these people was that I wasn't giving information in measurement units they understood, but they wanted to do the recipe. Converting is annoying. I now plan to give both measurements in upcoming videos, and with my old videos...I plan to do metric versions. I'm still not used to the fact that someone in India or England is watching my videos, even though I talk to people all over the world all the time.
Youtube really teaches you to develop a thick skin and let comments roll off your back. Compliments really make my day, but I've learned not to let the negative ones hurt me. For one thing, often it isn't personal. If they don't like the product you are advertising or showing, they'll dislike the video. I've learned that some comments may sound insulting but are not meant to be taken that way. People from different countries have different ideas about social etiquette.
I usually don't like to discourage comments on my Youtube videos, as I think this chases away viewers. However, when trolling does get bad, I do moderate the videos. Trolls can chase viewers away as well, and I find moderation solves the problem. I find many of my trolls are probably kids or frustrated students. I think some schools are using my videos and refer their students to them. The students are frustrated because they are having a problem. The last problem I had, I decided to keep this in mind. I chose to ignore the offensive comment and answer the person's original question. The person wrote back and told me what they were looking for, and I tried to advise them the best I could. The person seemed grateful.
Trolls, though, are often a sign that you are successful. I didn't know a video of mine had become popular until people started leaving insulting comments on it.
One more traumatizing thing did occur, but I think this might have been a Youtube glitch. However, it happened the same day I made my payment account with Foreladigital. I could no longer watch my videos or anyone else's videos when signed into my Google Chrome account. I could watch them in Internet Explorer, but the problem was that the uploader on Youtube doesn't like Internet Explorer. On the forum, though, there were other people complaining of the same problem. Again, I contacted my recruiter...but the problem wound up resolving itself anyway.
The recruiter did say that Youtube will sometimes lock someone out of their account if there are copyright violations. However, I had deleted any video where there was any question of that. It did resolve, so it seems like it was a glitch.
I'll give an update in the far-off future when I feel I have given this enough time to tell if it was an advantage or not. So far, though, I've not regretted my decision.
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